OBAMA IN GERMANY SPEECH

AT LEAST 200,000 PEOPLE WERE AT THIS EVENT TO SEE OBAMA, THERES NO WAY HE CAN POSSIBLY LOSE THE PRESIDENTIAL LEADERSHIP NOW, HES GOT THE TALK AND HES INTO THE WORLD TRADE JUST LIKE THE BIBLE SAYS AND AS YOU CAN TELL HERE HE GOT ALL EUROPE BEHIND HIM. OBAMA IS DEFFINATELY A FORERUNNER OF THE FUTURE EU DICTATOR.

OBAMA IN ISRAEL PRESS CONFERENCE
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/23/obama-jerusalem-press-con_n_114482.html

OBAMA SPEECH IN GERMANY - VIDEO
http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/berlinvideo/

OBAMA PRESS CONFERENCE WITH SARKOZY IN FRANCE
http://thisweekwithbarackobama.blogspot.com/2008/07/obama-sarkozy-press-conference-in-paris.html

Obama Berlin - Germany Speech transcript
Submitted by kcpc on Fri, 07/25/2008 - 12:26am.

BARACK OBAMA BERLIN SPEECH: A WORLD THAT STANDS AS ONE
THURS JULY 24 2008 12:58:02

Thank you to the citizens of Berlin and to the people of Germany. Let me thank Chancellor Merkel and Foreign Minister Steinmeier for welcoming me earlier today. Thank you Mayor Wowereit, the Berlin Senate, the police, and most of all thank you for this welcome.

I come to Berlin as so many of my countrymen have come before. Tonight, I speak to you not as a candidate for President, but as a citizen -- a proud citizen of the United States, and a fellow citizen of the world.

WORLD GOVERNMENT

DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.
25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

DANIEL 12:4,1
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

REVELATION 13:1-3,7,8,12,16-18
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

REVELATION 17:3,7,9-10,12,18
3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

I know that I don't look like the Americans who've previously spoken in this great city. The journey that led me here is improbable. My mother was born in the heartland of America, but my father grew up herding goats in Kenya. His father -- my grandfather -- was a cook, a domestic servant to the British.

At the height of the Cold War, my father decided, like so many others in the forgotten corners of the world, that his yearning -- his dream -- required the freedom and opportunity promised by the West. And so he wrote letter after letter to universities all across America until somebody, somewhere answered his prayer for a better life.

That is why I'm here. And you are here because you too know that yearning. This city, of all cities, knows the dream of freedom. And you know that the only reason we stand here tonight is because men and women from both of our nations came together to work, and struggle, and sacrifice for that better life.

Ours is a partnership that truly began sixty years ago this summer, on the day when the first American plane touched down at Templehof.

On that day, much of this continent still lay in ruin.Ê The rubble of this city had yet to be built into a wall. The Soviet shadow had swept across Eastern Europe, while in the West, America, Britain, and France took stock of their losses, and pondered how the world might be remade.

This is where the two sides met. And on the twenty-fourth of June, 1948, the Communists chose to blockade the western part of the city. They cut off food and supplies to more than two million Germans in an effort to extinguish the last flame of freedom in Berlin.

The size of our forces was no match for the much larger Soviet Army. And yet retreat would have allowed Communism to march across Europe. Where the last war had ended, another World War could have easily begun. All that stood in the way was Berlin.

Ê And that's when the airlift began -- when the largest and most unlikely rescue in history brought food and hope to the people of this city.

The odds were stacked against success. In the winter, a heavy fog filled the sky above, and many planes were forced to turn back without dropping off the needed supplies. The streets where we stand were filled with hungry families who had no comfort from the cold.

But in the darkest hours, the people of Berlin kept the flame of hope burning. The people of Berlin refused to give up. And on one fall day, hundreds of thousands of Berliners came here, to the Tiergarten, and heard the city's mayor implore the world not to give up on freedom. There is only one possibility, he said. For us to stand together united until this battle is won. The people of Berlin have spoken. We have done our duty, and we will keep on doing our duty. People of the world: now do your duty.People of the world, look at Berlin!

People of the world -- look at Berlin!

Look at Berlin, where Germans and Americans learned to work together and trust each other less than three years after facing each other on the field of battle.

Look at Berlin, where the determination of a people met the generosity of the Marshall Plan and created a German miracle; where a victory over tyranny gave rise to NATO, the greatest alliance ever formed to defend our common security.

Look at Berlin, where the bullet holes in the buildings and the somber stones and pillars near the Brandenburg Gate insist that we never forget our common humanity.

People of the world -- look at Berlin, where a wall came down, a continent came together, and history proved that there is no challenge too great for a world that stands as one.

Sixty years after the airlift, we are called upon again. History has led us to a new crossroad, with new promise and new peril. When you, the German people, tore down that wall -- a wall that divided East and West; freedom and tyranny; fear and hope -- walls came tumbling down around the world. From Kiev to Cape Town, prison camps were closed, and the doors of democracy were opened. Markets opened too, and the spread of information and technology reduced barriers to opportunity and prosperity. While the 20th century taught us that we share a common destiny, the 21st has revealed a world more intertwined than at any time in human history.

The fall of the Berlin Wall brought new hope. But that very closeness has given rise to new dangers -- dangers that cannot be contained within the borders of a country or by the distance of an ocean.

The terrorists of September 11th plotted in Hamburg and trained in Kandahar and Karachi before killing thousands from all over the globe on American soil.

As we speak, cars in Boston and factories in Beijing are melting the ice caps in the Arctic, shrinking coastlines in the Atlantic, and bringing drought to farms from Kansas to Kenya.

Poorly secured nuclear material in the former Soviet Union, or secrets from a scientist in Pakistan could help build a bomb that detonates in Paris. The poppies in Afghanistan become the heroin in Berlin. The poverty and violence in Somalia breeds the terror of tomorrow. The genocide in Darfur shames the conscience of us all.

In this new world, such dangerous currents have swept along faster than our efforts to contain them. That is why we cannot afford to be divided. No one nation, no matter how large or powerful, can defeat such challenges alone. None of us can deny these threats, or escape responsibility in meeting them. Yet, in the absence of Soviet tanks and a terrible wall, it has become easy to forget this truth. And if we're honest with each other, we know that sometimes, on both sides of the Atlantic, we have drifted apart, and forgotten our shared destiny.

EUROPEAN UNION ARMY

DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADING BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS) that shall arise: and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.( BE HEAD OF 3 NATIONS)
25 And he (EU PRESIDENT) shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.(3 1/2 YRS)

DANIEL 8:23-25
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king (EU DICTATOR) of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences,(FROM THE OCCULT) shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power:(SATANS POWER) and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes;(JESUS) but he shall be broken without hand.

DANIEL 11:36-39
36 And the king (EU DICTATOR) shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS JEWISH) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.(CLAIM TO BE GOD)
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(WAR) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god,(DESTROY TERROR GROUPS) whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.

REVELATION 19:19
19 And I saw the beast,(EU LEADER) and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse,(JESUS) and against his army.(THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)

In Europe, the view that America is part of what has gone wrong in our world, rather than a force to help make it right, has become all too common. In America, there are voices that deride and deny the importance of Europe's role in our security and our future. Both views miss the truth -- that Europeans today are bearing new burdens and taking more responsibility in critical parts of the world; and that just as American bases built in the last century still help to defend the security of this continent, so does our country still sacrifice greatly for freedom around the globe.

Yes, there have been differences between America and Europe. No doubt, there will be differences in the future. But the burdens of global citizenship continue to bind us together. A change of leadership in Washington will not lift this burden. In this new century, Americans and Europeans alike will be required to do more -- not less. Partnership and cooperation among nations is not a choice; it is the one way, the only way, to protect our common security and advance our common humanity.

That is why the greatest danger of all is to allow new walls to divide us from one another. The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand. The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes; natives and immigrants; Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand. These now are the walls we must tear down.

We know they have fallen before. After centuries of strife, the people of Europe have formed a Union of promise and prosperity. Here, at the base of a column built to mark victory in war, we meet in the center of a Europe at peace. Not only have walls come down in Berlin, but they have come down in Belfast, where Protestant and Catholic found a way to live together; in the Balkans, where our Atlantic alliance ended wars and brought savage war criminals to justice; and in South Africa, where the struggle of a courageous people defeated apartheid. So history reminds us that walls can be torn down. But the task is never easy. True partnership and true progress requires constant work and sustained sacrifice. They require sharing the burdens of development and diplomacy; of progress and peace. They require allies who will listen to each other, learn from each other and, most of all, trust each other.

That is why America cannot turn inward. That is why Europe cannot turn inward. America has no better partner than Europe. Now is the time to build new bridges across the globe as strong as the one that bound us across the Atlantic. Now is the time to join together, through constant cooperation, strong institutions, shared sacrifice, and a global commitment to progress, to meet the challenges of the 21st century. It was this spirit that led airlift planes to appear in the sky above our heads, and people to assemble where we stand today. And this is the moment when our nations -- and all nations -- must summon that spirit anew.

This is the moment when we must defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it. This threat is real and we cannot shrink from our responsibility to combat it. If we could create NATO to face down the Soviet Union, we can join in a new and global partnership to dismantle the networks that have struck in Madrid and Amman; in London and Bali; in Washington and New York. If we could win a battle of ideas against the communists, we can stand with the vast majority of Muslims who reject the extremism that leads to hate instead of hope.

This is the moment when we must renew our resolve to rout the terrorists who threaten our security in Afghanistan, and the traffickers who sell drugs on your streets. No one welcomes war. I recognize the enormous difficulties in Afghanistan. But my country and yours have a stake in seeing that NATO's first mission beyond Europe's borders is a success. For the people of Afghanistan, and for our shared security, the work must be done. America cannot do this alone. The Afghan people need our troops and your troops; our support and your support to defeat the Taliban and al Qaeda, to develop their economy, and to help them rebuild their nation. We have too much at stake to turn back now.

MUSLIM NATIONS

EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.

ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)

EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.

JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

INVENTION OF THE ATOMIC BOMB.

2 PETER 3:10-11
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.

REVELATION 14:18-20
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city,(JERUSALEM) and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.(200 MILES) (THE SIZE OF ISRAEL)

ISAIAH 66:15-18
15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.

ISAIAH 26:21
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die).

ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.

JOEL 2:20,30
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.

EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.

ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

REVELATION 9:18
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)

LUKE 17:34-37
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).

MATTHEW 24:37-51
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

This is the moment when we must renew the goal of a world without nuclear weapons. The two superpowers that faced each other across the wall of this city came too close too often to destroying all we have built and all that we love. With that wall gone, we need not stand idly by and watch the further spread of the deadly atom. It is time to secure all loose nuclear materials; to stop the spread of nuclear weapons; and to reduce the arsenals from another era. This is the moment to begin the work of seeking the peace of a world without nuclear weapons.

This is the moment when every nation in Europe must have the chance to choose its own tomorrow free from the shadows of yesterday. In this century, we need a strong European Union that deepens the security and prosperity of this continent, while extending a hand abroad. In this century -- in this city of all cities -- we must reject the Cold War mind-set of the past, and resolve to work with Russia when we can, to stand up for our values when we must, and to seek a partnership that extends across this entire continent.

This is the moment when we must build on the wealth that open markets have created, and share its benefits more equitably. Trade has been a cornerstone of our growth and global development. But we will not be able to sustain this growth if it favors the few, and not the many. Together, we must forge trade that truly rewards the work that creates wealth, with meaningful protections for our people and our planet. This is the moment for trade that is free and fair for all.

DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADE BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).

EU DICTATOR (WORLD LEADER)

REVELATION 17:12-13
12 And the ten horns (NATIONS) which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

REVELATION 6:1-2
1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2 And I saw, and behold a white horse:(PEACE) and he that sat on him had a bow;(EU DICTATOR) and a crown was given unto him:(PRESIDENT OF THE EU) and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.(MILITARY GENIUS)

REVELATION 13:1-10
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.(THE EU AND ITS DICTATOR IS GODLESS)
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.(DICTATOR COMES FROM NEW AGE OR OCCULT)
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death;(MURDERERD) and his deadly wound was healed:(COMES BACK TO LIFE) and all the world wondered after the beast.(THE WORLD THINKS ITS GOD IN THE FLESH, MESSIAH TO ISRAEL)
4 And they worshipped the dragon (SATAN) which gave power unto the beast:(JEWISH EU DICTATOR) and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?(FALSE RESURRECTION,SATAN BRINGS HIM TO LIFE)
5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.(GIVEN WORLD CONTROL FOR 3 1/2YRS)
6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God,(HES A GOD HATER) to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.(HES A LIBERAL OR DEMOCRAT,WILL PUT ANYTHING ABOUT GOD DOWN)
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints,(BEHEAD THEM) and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.(WORLD DOMINATION)
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.(WORLD DICTATOR)
9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.(SAVED CHRISTIANS AND JEWS DIE FOR THEIR FAITH AT THIS TIME,NOW WE ARE SAVED BY GRACE BUT DURING THE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH, PEOPLE WILL BE PUT TO DEATH (BEHEADINGS) FOR THEIR BELIEF IN GOD (JESUS) OR THE BIBLE.

DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come (ROMANS IN AD 70) shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMANS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 And he( EU ROMAN, JEWISH DICTATOR) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:( 7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,( 3 1/2 YRS) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

This is the moment we must help answer the call for a new dawn in the Middle East. My country must stand with yours and with Europe in sending a direct message to Iran that it must abandon its nuclear ambitions. We must support the Lebanese who have marched and bled for democracy, and the Israelis and Palestinians who seek a secure and lasting peace. And despite past differences, this is the moment when the world should support the millions of Iraqis who seek to rebuild their lives, even as we pass responsibility to the Iraqi government and finally bring this war to a close.

This is the moment when we must come together to save this planet. Let us resolve that we will not leave our children a world where the oceans rise and famine spreads and terrible storms devastate our lands. Let us resolve that all nations -- including my own -- will act with the same seriousness of purpose as has your nation, and reduce the carbon we send into our atmosphere. This is the moment to give our children back their future. This is the moment to stand as one.

And this is the moment when we must give hope to those left behind in a globalized world. We must remember that the Cold War born in this city was not a battle for land or treasure. Sixty years ago, the planes that flew over Berlin did not drop bombs; instead they delivered food, and coal, and candy to grateful children. And in that show of solidarity, those pilots won more than a military victory. They won hearts and minds; love and loyalty and trust -- not just from the people in this city, but from all those who heard the story of what they did here.

Now the world will watch and remember what we do here -- what we do with this moment. Will we extend our hand to the people in the forgotten corners of this world who yearn for lives marked by dignity and opportunity; by security and justice? Will we lift the child in Bangladesh from poverty, shelter the refugee in Chad, and banish the scourge of AIDS in our time?

Will we stand for the human rights of the dissident in Burma, the blogger in Iran, or the voter in Zimbabwe? Will we give meaning to the words never again in Darfur?

Will we acknowledge that there is no more powerful example than the one each of our nations projects to the world? Will we reject torture and stand for the rule of law? Will we welcome immigrants from different lands, and shun discrimination against those who don't look like us or worship like we do, and keep the promise of equality and opportunity for all of our people?

People of Berlin -- people of the world -- this is our moment. This is our time.

I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we've struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We've made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions.

But I also know how much I love America. I know that for more than two centuries, we have strived -- at great cost and great sacrifice -- to form a more perfect union; to seek, with other nations, a more hopeful world. Our allegiance has never been to any particular tribe or kingdom -- indeed, every language is spoken in our country; every culture has left its imprint on ours; every point of view is expressed in our public squares. What has always united us -- what has always driven our people; what drew my father to America's shores -- is a set of ideals that speak to aspirations shared by all people: that we can live free from fear and free from want; that we can speak our minds and assemble with whomever we choose and worship as we please.

Those are the aspirations that joined the fates of all nations in this city. Those aspirations are bigger than anything that drives us apart. It is because of those aspirations that the airlift began. It is because of those aspirations that all free people -- everywhere -- became citizens of Berlin. It is in pursuit of those aspirations that a new generation -- our generation -- must make our mark on history.

People of Berlin -- and people of the world -- the scale of our challenge is great. The road ahead will be long. But I come before you to say that we are heirs to a struggle for freedom. We are a people of improbable hope. Let us build on our common history, and seize our common destiny, and once again engage in that noble struggle to bring justice and peace to our world.

STORMS CONTINUE

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

STORM OUTLOOK FOR SATURDAY
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=4327076&ch=4226717&src=news

TORNADOES IN NEW HAMPSHIRE
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=8976557&ch=4226717&src=news

Power outages widespread in Texas after Dolly By ELIZABETH WHITE, Associated Press Writer JULY 25,08

HARLINGEN, Texas - Business at reopened restaurants was humming, grocery store parking lots were packed and residents of south Texas were venturing out on the newly dry roads again as the remnants of Hurricane Dolly moved well away from the Rio Grande Valley. But thousands were still without power Thursday and cleanup was ongoing following the Category 2 storm. Officials also warned that Dolly's aftereffects were not necessarily gone for good.Downed power lines remained the greatest danger. One person in Matamoros, Mexico, died from electrocution after walking past a power line on the ground.

Fallen billboards and business signs still littered the streets, but residents were out and about after hunkering down for most of Wednesday. As the sun peeked through dark clouds, people began cleaning up and expressed relief that the storm didn't take many lives.We're all OK, said Hilario Cruz as he chopped up a felled tree that just missed his pickup truck in Harlingen. We covered the windows. The water was up to our knees yesterday.There will be substantial cleanup: President Bush declared 15 counties in south Texas a disaster area to release federal funding to them, and insurance estimators put the losses at $750 million.By Thursday afternoon, forecasters downgraded Dolly to a tropical depression. The storm, which brought 100 mph winds, was expected to break up by Friday. It left behind more than a foot of rain in some areas and broke all-time July rainfall records in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.

But with Dolly long gone, 159,000 people in the region were still without power at 10 p.m. EDT Thursday, according to Gov. Rick Perry's office. The figure was down from 228,000 earlier in the day.

Steve McCraw, the state's homeland security director, said about 1,500 workers were on hand to help restore power and seven stations were distributing water, ice, food and hygiene kits.An aerial view of the Rio Grande Valley showed fields forming a checkerboard pattern, some inundated with water, others spared. Traffic was moving again in most places, but some residential areas were surrounded by floodwaters and debris was strewn across lawns.Perry, who flew over the area Thursday with U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, cautioned residents not to rest easy just yet.It appears that we have handled it as well as it can be handled. But it is far from over, Perry said, noting possible flooding over the next five days from runoff as the storm moves northward.Sen. Cornyn said Dolly should remind the federal government that it needs to fund levee improvements along the Rio Grande.We're lucky Mother Nature didn't deal us a harsher blow, Cornyn said.After crashing ashore on South Padre Island midday Wednesday, Dolly meandered north, leaving towns on the northern tip of the Rio Grande Valley with a surprise. Officials had feared the Rio Grande levees would breach, but the storm veered from its predicted path and they held strong.We're glad it didn't make a direct hit but it just refocuses on the issues we have, said Cameron County Judge Carlos Cascos. The levees are suspect. Nothing's changed in my opinion.While the area near the border that expected the bulk of the storm was counting its blessings, residents a little farther north were wondering what hit them.In the La Quinta section of San Benito, flooding is routine as rain normally drives torrents of water off a nearby expressway and pool around raised railroad beds. But they said Thursday they'd never seen anything like this.

One subsidized housing project will likely have to be torn down, having just barely survived three or four other floods, said Arnold Padilla, the city's housing director. If it was salvageable at all, it would be three or four months before it was livable, Padilla said. The raised railroad tracks that define the neighborhood became the vantage point, boat launch and the only dry ground around. Residents waded through waist-deep brown water with a few belongings wrapped in plastic bags held high in a sad caravan of Dolly's displaced. A bit farther northwest in Harlingen, Joanna Nunez was considering how to fix the new hole in her roof. She said that not long after the storm had torn away the chunk, a neighbor boy staying at her house asked if he could go outside to see Dolly.

I told him, We are outside, she said, smiling and looking at the hole. Rain and wind from Dolly probably doomed much of the cotton crop in Texas' Rio Grande Valley. About 92,000 acres of cotton in the region were awaiting harvest but driving rains and high winds knocked bolls to the ground, making them unsalvageable, Texas Agri Life Extension agent Rod Santa Ana said. Sorghum acres damaged by rain in early July also could be doomed, he said. A remnant of the storm on Thursday blew several roofs off houses and businesses on San Antonio's south side, about 300 miles northwest of where the storm made landfall. There were no immediate reports of injuries and the National Weather Service sent a storm survey team to determine whether it was a tornado or strong winds. On South Padre Island, which endured the worst of Dolly's wrath, power could be out for another day, said town spokeswoman Melissa Zamora. A 9 p.m. curfew was set for the second night in row Thursday, and the National Guard and FEMA were distributing ice, water and food.

South Padre Island officials said no buildings were in danger of collapse, but damage was widespread to hotels and other businesses. There were no dollar estimates on damage yet. Avi Fima was mourning the damage to my baby — his Surf Stop store on Padre Boulevard. Windows were blown out, half the roof was torn away and water bubbled up the carpeting inside. This is going to hit us good, Fima said. We actually started summer really good. ... To rebuild it — the season will be over. We have a month left.Across the Rio Grande in Matamoros, Mexico, power was restored to large parts of Brownsville's sister city, and Tamaulipas Gov. Eugenio Hernandez said he hoped the lights would be on by the end of the day. Gas stations and factories reopened as about 2,500 police and soldiers patrolled to prevent looting while many of the 13,000 people who had taken shelter returned home. The last hurricane to hit the U.S. was the fast-forming Humberto, which came ashore in southeast Texas last September. The busiest part of the Atlantic hurricane season is usually in August and September. So far this year, there have been four named storms, two of which became hurricanes. Federal forecasters predict a total of 12 to 16 named storms and six to nine hurricanes this season. Associated Press writers Christopher Sherman in San Benito, Betsey Blaney in Lubbock and Mark Walsh in Matamoros, Mexico, contributed to this report.

Deadly storm hits New Hampshire, damages homes Thu Jul 24, 3:06 PM ET

BOSTON (Reuters) - Severe thunderstorms and a possible tornado tore into New Hampshire on Thursday, killing at least one person, leaving an unidentified number trapped in homes and bringing down trees, residents and local media said. We still have live wires and trees down everywhere, said Mary Frambach, a volunteer at the fire department in Epsom, a town in eastern New Hampshire hit hard by the storm that struck central and eastern areas of the state.She told Reuters that rescue authorities were helping remove people trapped in badly damaged homes, including at least one that had collapsed.New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch declared a state of emergency in five counties and opened an emergency operations center.The area covered by the state of emergency is home to 675,000 people, more than half of the largely rural state's population. It includes the state capital Concord as well as vacation towns around Lake WinnipesaukeeLake Winnipesaukee.The situation is still ongoing. I urge all New Hampshire citizens to take sensible precautions and to heed all warnings from public safety officials, Lynch said in a statement.At least one person was killed near Northwood Lake in Epsom, New Hampshire's Union Leader newspaper reported.We have reports of about 100 homes damaged, Colin Manning, a spokesman for the governor, said in a telephone interview, adding that Lynch was in a helicopter inspecting affected areas.There clearly were quite a number of houses that were damaged. Some of them appear to be completely flattened or large portions of them flattened, said New Hampshire's State Emergency Management spokesman, Jim Van Dongen.

Todd Gutner, a meteorologist at WBZ-TV, said that based on reports of damage it was likely the area was hit by a tornado, a rare occurrence in the region.I have never seen rain come down like that, Mike Hedstrom, a resident in Northwood, New Hampshire, told the television station. Houses are down, roofs are off, trees are down, he added.Wayne Murray, a 58-year-old resident in Deerfield, New Hampshire, told the Union Leader that part of the roof on his house tore off in the winds and the area looked like a war zone.
(Reporting by Jason Szep and Scott Malone, Editing by Xavier Briand)

Genevieve becomes hurricane but is not near land JULY 25,08

MEXICO CITY - Tropical Storm Genevieve has strengthened into a hurricane far off Mexico's Pacific coast, and forecasters say it is expected to stay out at sea. The National Hurricane Center in Miami says Genevieve was 585 miles southwest of Cabo San Lucas in Baja California and was moving west-northwest at about 12 mph with winds clocked at 75 mph.Forecasters say the storm will likely reach its peak intensity Friday and then start to weaken by Saturday. Genevieve is the fourth Pacific hurricane of the season.

Flooding feared along U.S.-Mexico border from Dolly By Joe Mitchell Thu Jul 24, 6:17 PM ET

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (Reuters) - Hurricane Dolly, which lashed the U.S.-Mexico coastline, weakened to a tropical depression on Thursday over South Texas, but concern remained over flooding along the populous Rio Grande Valley. Initial reports indicated that aging levees holding back the Rio Grande River withstood a surge from Dolly, which dumped up to 12 inches of rain in the first hours after coming ashore at the barrier island of South Padre Island on Wednesday and spurred widespread flooding across South Texas and northeast Mexico.The full effect of the flooding might not be seen for days as rain flows into the region where more than 1 million people live.Local officials said the levees have held under the strain, though flooding was widespread.They held up fine, said Johnny Cavazos, emergency management coordinator for Cameron County, which borders Mexico and the mouth of the Rio Grande. I don't see this being a problem as Dolly moves inland.Dolly, the first hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic storm season, left about 245,000 homes in the valley without power as of Thursday afternoon, according to the state's grid operator.Dolly came ashore on Wednesday as a Category 2 hurricane, the second level on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph (160 kmh), but steadily lost strength as it moved inland.At 5 p.m. EDT the storm was 35 miles south of Eagle Pass, Texas, with maximum sustained winds near 35 mph (55 kmh), the National Hurricane Center said.The Miami-based forecasters said it could produce total rainfall of up to 20 inches in some places. These rains are very likely to cause widespread flooding, it said.

DISASTER AREAS

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has put 1,200 National Guard troops on alert in case they are needed to help cope with the storm's aftermath.

There were no reports that levees along the Rio Grande had been breached.The Bush administration declared 15 of the Texas counties hit hardest by the storm as disaster areas, allowing them to draw on federal funds for cleanup and rebuilding.In South Padre Island, residents emerged from their homes and shelters to walk through streets littered with debris, toppled street lights and downed power poles.Everything is gone. Everything got wet, said Amber Acevado, who runs a flooring store on the island. You stand here inside the store, you can see right through to the outside.Many residents and tourists trapped on the island by the storm left after a causeway to the mainland reopened.Offshore drilling rigs and production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico emerged from the storm mostly unscathed.U.S. crude oil prices rose earlier this week on worries of possible storm damage to offshore drilling rigs. But oil prices fell after the storm barely dented supplies, hitting a 7-week low of $123.50 a barrel on Thursday. In Mexico, Dolly flooded towns along the northeast coast up to waist level, and a man was killed in the border city of Matamoros when power cables fell into floodwater and electrocuted him, local authorities said. Mexico's navy on Wednesday recovered the body of a fisherman who had vanished off the Yucatan Peninsula as the storm passed through. In South Padre Island, a 17-year-old boy was seriously injured when he fell seven stories from a condominium balcony during the storm.

(Additional reporting by Jim Forsyth in San Antonio, Tomas Bravo in Playa Bagdad, Mexico, Jose Cortazar in Cancun, Mexico and Catherine Bremer in Mexico City; Writing by Chris Baltimore; Editing by Xavier Briand) (For latest U.S. National Hurricane Center reports, see http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ )

Dolly destroys Texas cotton, sorghum crops By BETSY BLANEY, AP Agriculture Writer Thu Jul 24, 4:23 PM ET

Hurricane Dolly probably doomed South Texas's cotton and sorghum crops already damaged by heavy rains earlier in the summer. But analysts said the loss, while devastating for local producers, will have only a short-term effect on the markets. Nonetheless, it doesn't look good for either crop, Texas AgriLife Extension agent Rod Santa Ana said Thursday.About 92,000 acres of cotton in the region was awaiting harvest until driving rains and high winds stained the cotton and drove the bolls to the ground, where harvest becomes useless. Even if the bolls had remained on the plants, the resulting cotton cloth's quality would have been severely diminished.No firm figures will be available on the damage until after Dolly passes and cotton producers are able to get back in their fields.Santa Ana said 170,000 acres of sorghum had already slipped a grade — bringing producers fewer dollar per hundred weight — from rains earlier this month. Farmers were still deciding whether to harvest it at all, when Dolly hit and answered the question for them. It no longer makes financial sense to bring in the damaged plants.Sorghum is used to feed cattle and poultry in Mexico. Prices of cattle and poultry feed already are soaring as a result of rising corn prices. The recent floods in the Midwest engulfed an estimated 2 million or more acres of corn and soybean fields, and U.S. production of ethanol, an alternative fuel that can be made with corn, also has driven prices higher.Once fields dry, insurance adjusters will survey sorghum producers' losses.

The loss of cotton acres to Dolly amount to about two-tenths of 1 percent of the world's cotton supply for the year, so it won't affect markets in the long run, analysts said.Texas, the nation's leader in cotton production, planted 4.8 million acres, more than half the country's 9.24 million acres.But a loss of that amount is very serious to the producer that lost it because it's 100 percent of their cotton for the year, said Roger Haldenby, spokesman for the Plains Cotton Growers, which serves 41 Texas counties in the world's largest contiguous growing patch.The losses could affect futures market but only in the short term, said Mike Stevens of Swiss Financial Services, Inc. The price could tighten the difference for October contracts, now trading at roughly 71 cents per pound, and December contracts, which rose 0.94 cent on Thursday to close at 73.86 cents a pound on the ICE Futures US exchange.

Still, cotton futures have fallen 25 percent from their March high, driven lower by weather-induced declines in corn, wheat and soybeans, which tend to influence cotton futures and other agriculture products.Don't expect to see the price of cotton clothing rise, Haldenby said.I don't see that it would affect the cost of Levi's or Hanes undershirts whatsoever, he said.The U.S. supply of cotton from this year's crop is still up in the air and mostly because of West Texas, Stevens said. Severe drought and gusty winds there damaged irrigated and dryland plants in June.It's such a mishmash that I don't think anyone is going to have a good handle on it, until September's crop report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.The U.S., which exports far more than it consumes, still has about 10 million carryover bales from last year's crop. Demand for U.S. cotton is very fragile because of the economic situation as questions of whether we're really in recession linger, Stevens said.India, where the monsoon season isn't coming on as producers there had hoped, is the U.S.'s largest cotton competitor and is working to make inroads to sell more cotton to China than American producers. A short crop in India could bode well for U.S. producers as supplies would tighten, said John Robinson, an associate professor of agricultural economics at Texas A&M University, said. If they come up short that could really make things volatile on the upside for prices to producers, he said.

Obama urges Iran to accept EU nuke proposal By ELAINE GANLEY, Associated Press Writer JULY 25,08

PARIS - Democrat Barack Obama said Friday that Iran should promptly accept an international call to freeze its uranium enrichment program, which some nations see as a potential step toward obtaining nuclear weapons, and not wait for the next U.S. president. The presidential candidate met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris, where they discussed Iran, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, climate change and other issues.Speaking later at a news conference, Obama said Iran should accept the proposals made by Sarkozy and other Western leaders. He urged Iran's leaders not to wait for the next U.S. president to push them because the pressure, I think, is only going to build.The United States and other Western nations accuse Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons and demand that it freeze its uranium enrichment program. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

Obama said that he and Sarkozy agreed that Iran poses an extraordinarily grave situation. He said the world must send a clear message to Iran to end its illicit nuclear program.Obama said: My expectation is that we're going to present a clear choice to Iran: change your behavior and you will be fully integrated into the international community with all the benefits that go with that. Continue your illicit nuclear program and the international community as a whole will ratchet up pressure with stronger and increased sanctions. And we should have no illusion that progress will come easily.Obama is in the midst of a weeklong tour of the Middle East and Europe as the first-term U.S. senator seeks to burnish his international credentials for the general election campaign against Republican rival Sen. John McCain. The trip began with a campaign-season tour of the war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan and ends with meetings with old allies France and Britain.Obama told reporters that Afghanistan is a war we have to win. The Taliban and terrorist groups it supports, he said, pose an unacceptable threat to the U.S., France and other nations.We've got to finish the job, said Obama, who often has said the Iraq war was an unwise move that distracted the United States from efforts to find Osama bin Laden and other terrorist leaders and to root out the Taliban forces in Afghanistan.Sarkozy said he agreed that the Taliban must be defeated in Afghanistan, where French troops are part of a multinational force.The joint news conference had many light moments. Sarkozy called his guest my dear Barack Obama, and said the French have been following the U.S. presidential race with passion.It's fascinating to watch what's happening there, he said.

The two men recalled their 2006 meeting in Washington, when Sarkozy was the French interior minister. Obama said the only other U.S. senator who Sarkozy visited then was McCain, now the presumed Republican nominee for president.Obama urged U.S. political reporters to seek Sarkozy's insight because he seems to have a good nose for how things play out.Sarkozy wished Obama luck, but did not endorse him. He said it was up to Americans to choose their president.Asked by a French reporter how he would differ from President Bush on foreign policy, Obama noted that he is a senator, not president.I am a candidate for president, he said. But there's a wonderful tradition in the United States, that's not always observed, but I think is a good one. Which is that you don't spend time criticizing a sitting president when you're overseas.What I can say affirmatively is that an effective U.S. foreign policy will be based on our ability not only to project power but also to listen and to build consensus, Obama said. AP Special Correspondent David Espo contributed to this report.

Stocks advance on upbeat economic reports By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer JULY 25,08

NEW YORK - Upbeat economic data lifted stocks Friday, placating a market pummeled a day earlier by concerns about housing and the financial sector. A better than expected report on home sales helped Wall Street shake off some early uncertainty. The Commerce Department said June sales of new single-family homes fell by 0.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 530,000 units; the market expected sales to total 505,000. That report helped offset concerns raised by a weak reading on existing home sales on Thursday.And there was good news about consumers, whose shyness about spending has troubled Wall Street. The Reuters/University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment for the first part of July came in at 61.2, while economists forecast a reading of 56.4, which was the level hit in June — a 28-year-low.The Commerce Department also said orders for durable goods rose 0.8 percent last month, far better than the 0.4 percent decline economists expected. It was the best showing since a 1.1 percent rise in February and reflected strength in demand for heavy machinery, primary metals such as steel and even a slight rebound in the beleaguered auto industry.

Linda Duessel, equity market strategist at Federated Investors, said economic figures such as the durable goods numbers are important because they reveal continued demand from abroad, which could help U.S. companies continue to rake in profits even if the U.S. economy isn't running at full steam.That's good news for market participants as we try to find a footing in the market because we really don't want to see our weakness leak outside the U.S., she said.Meanwhile, a barrel of light sweet crude fell $1.85 to $123.64 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil prices have fallen over $20 in recent weeks, alleviating some of Wall Street's concerns about the impact of inflation consumers' ability to spend.

In early afternoon trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 23.94, or 0.21 percent, to 11,373.22. The Dow, which fluctuated in early trading, fell more than 280 points Thursday.Broader stock indicators also rose. The Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 4.58, or 0.37 percent, to 1,257.12, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 23.21, or 1.02 percent, to 2,303.32.Bond prices moved lower as investors shifted back into stocks. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 4.09 percent from 4.00 percent from late Thursday.The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices rose.The stock market's volatility this week — rallying Tuesday and Wednesday only to erase those gains Thursday — illustrates tentativeness behind some of the bets investors are laying, said Hugh Johnson, chairman and chief investment officer of Johnson Illington Advisors. He said the market tends to react to whatever the latest headlines are.It's just news sensitive and the real question is What's the next news going to be? Good or bad? That means that the market doesn't have a trend or a direction. It depends entirely on whether the news is going to be good or bad on any given day and that doesn't give you, as an investor, a lot of confidence, he said.Johnson said the ride for investors will likely remain bumpy as Wall Street awaits next Friday's government employment report for July.If the consensus is correct they'll have little choice but to leave interest rates unchanged, he said referring to the difficulties Federal Reserve policymakers would have in hiking rates to battle inflation without damaging the economy.In corporate news, Juniper Networks Inc., the maker of networking equipment, reported a 40 percent increase in earnings for the second quarter, helped by a new product line. Results narrowly surpassed Wall Street projections. The stock rose $3.21, or 14 percent, to $25.78.Chemicals maker Huntsman Corp. said it was approached by investors offering funding to help complete its $6.5 billion takeover by Apollo Management. Huntsman rose 68 cents, or 5 percent, to $13.95.Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac declined as investors worried about the government-chartered mortgage finance companies' financial stability. Fannie Mae fell 75 cents, or 6.2 percent, to $11.27, while Freddie Mac fell 61 cents, or 6.9 percent, to $8.20. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 3to 2 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 711.6 million shares. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 9.95, or 1.42 percent, to 712.34. Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 1.97 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.13 percent, Germany's DAX index slipped 0.06 percent, and France's CAC-40 advanced 0.67 percent. On the Net: New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com

DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADE BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).

Sarkozy's Grand Mediterranean Plan founders on one word: Jewish By David Singer July 24, 2008 ISRAEL INSIDER

France's President Nicolas Sarkozy has had to eat humble pie after his ground-breaking plan to establish the 43 member Mediterranean Union failed to reach an agreed final communiquי because of the opposition to its wording by the Palestinian Authority (PA) -- the only non-state member present. President Sarkozy's efforts in bringing Israel and 9 members of the Arab League -- including Syria -- to this inaugural meeting promised to introduce a ray of light for Israeli-Arab co-operation and an end to regional turmoil.

Hopes were high that the moribund state of negotiations between Israel and the PA under the Roadmap proposed by America, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations -- the Quartet -- might miraculously be brought back to life. Israel's Prime Minister Mr Olmert had been remarkably upbeat in claiming - prior to the meeting -- that his country had never been closer to a peace deal with the Palestinians. The images of President Sarkozy, PA President Mahmoud Abbas and Mr Olmert smiling and enjoying a three way bear hug would have encouraged President Sarkozy into believing that he would be able to achieve the diplomatic breakthrough that had eluded the Quartet for the last 5 years. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner however was not taken in by Mr Olmert's absurd assessment and had sounded a word of warning when he bluntly told European News (12 July): Being around the same table with people you have fought is the beginning of something, it is the wind of hope. I'm sorry to say that the talks between the Israelis and Palestinians are not part of this wind of hope.Little did Mr Kouchner -- or President Sarkozy -- imagine that the fundamental disagreements between Israel and the PA would be used by the PA to undermine the grand design of President Sarkozy to bring the nations of the Mediterranean and the European Union together in a new spirit of co-operation and joint venture. The unfriendly wind Mr Kouchner had felt was shortly to blow away any hopes of an agreed summit position when the PA objected to the wording of the summit declaration. Why the PA thought it necessary to incur the wrath and displeasure of President Sarkozy by importing the Middle-East conflict into the formation of the Mediterranean Union was puzzling. Quibbling over a few words in an otherwise agreed document remained a mystery - until the PA tried to explain the significance - and insidiousness - of its objection. PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki told reporters according to Xinhua news agency (July 15): The Israelis insisted on the inclusion of the words -- state for the Jewish people -- something we are categorically opposed to. It was out of the question for us to accept this wording. We wanted to ensure the final statement was very clear on this point.

The Israeli delegation had a different take on what had happened telling Xinhua that Israel was in agreement with everything that has been adopted in the declaration because it was done by consensus.Mr Kouchner was more forthcoming on what had actually occurred to spoil President Sarkozy's party. He told Xinhua that the standstill had been caused by the use of the expressions nation state, national state, and democratic state. This had resulted in a last minute deadlock between the Israelis and the Palestinians which meant that the final text had to undergo some little changes. The use of the expression national state implies difficulties in ensuring the return of refugees to the Jewish State or non-Jewish, Palestinian State.How the PA could ever hope to succeed in getting the Mediterranean Union members to unanimously agree to wording in the summit declaration that would support the entry of millions of Arabs into Israel and deny the Jewish people its own State is unbelievable. These two intransigent demands of the PA have long been the sticking points in ensuring that President Bush's vision -- the creation of a 23rd Arab state between Israel and Jordan - will remain an impossible dream incapable of fulfilment. Now they had been brought to France by the PA to embarrass and undermine President Sarkozy's vision -- the establishment of the Mediterranean Union. The supine French reaction to these untenable and badly mistimed demands was entirely predictable. President Sarkozy could have told the PA to take a cold shower or to re-apply for membership of the Mediterranean Union when it had received international recognition as the governing authority of a sovereign and democratic state. Alternatively he could have suggested the PA be given observer status at the Mediterranean Union until statehood was achieved.

Mindful that any such action would have provoked an Arab walkout, President Sarkozy bit his tongue and chose the diplomatic path -- sending the hapless Mr. Kouchner on an appeasement journey to ease the frustration Sarkozy must have felt at this upstart non-state thwarting mighty France at the very brink of what was to be one of its greatest achievements. Mr. Kouchner was left to tell Xinhua (July 15): At the last moment we failed, perhaps for half an hour, to advance due to one word.That one word was Jewish. The Arab campaign to delegitimize the Jewish State was once again exposed as it continued in earnest in Paris at the birthplace of the Mediterranean Union. One Jewish State on this planet remains an anathema to most of the 22 Islamic Arab States as they continue to not recognise it, resist it and call for its destruction wherever and whenever the opportunity arises. Mr. Kouchner is fooling no-one as he bends the French knee -- or worse, perhaps -- once again in deference to this racist alliance that has actively opposed the existence of the Jewish State in its ancient homeland since its establishment 60 years ago. It will take more than half an hour and more than one word before these nations are disabused of their evil intentions. Views expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.

Italian Lisbon vote builds pressure on Ireland:Rome: the founding EU treaty was signed in the Italian capital in 1957 (Photo: EUobserver.com)PHILIPPA RUNNER 24.07.2008 @ 09:26 CET (1957 TREATY WAS THE REVIVED ROME TREATY)

The Italian senate's unanimous support for the Lisbon treaty on Wednesday (23 July) should help force Ireland into a revote, Italian politicians said, with Ireland looking increasingly likely to stand out as the only EU country not to ratify the text.If ratification takes place in the other 26 states, in the autumn we will be able to ask Ireland to find a solution which will not block the integration process and go to the European elections with the new rules foreseen in the Lisbon treaty, the senate's foreign affairs committee head, Lamberto Dini, indicated. The challenge [of solving Europe's political problems] will begin on the day when the treaty enters into force and when [EU] countries find out they can no longer rely on the right to veto by one of them, Italian foreign minister and former EU commissioner, Franco Frattini, added.The remarks came as all 286 Italian senators who turned up for the Lisbon vote on Wednesday afternoon gave their backing to the text, with the Italian lower house also expected to approve the treaty by a large majority when it votes next week.The Northern League, which had earlier called for a referendum on Lisbon, voted in favour but made a show of supporting separatist European regions by waving flags from the Basque Country, Catalonia, Sardinia, Venice, Liguria and Lombardy during the senate debate.Twenty one out of 27 EU states have definitively ratified the EU treaty despite the Irish No vote in a referendum in June. The Spanish, German and Polish parliaments have also approved the text, which now awaits the signatures of the respective heads of state.The Swedish parliament is set to pass the treaty without serious opposition when it begins its autumn session in September. And Czech Prime Minister Miroslav Topolanek this week pledged the full support of his divided ODS party when parliament votes in autumn.

Meanwhile, France is pushing Ireland to hold a second vote, with President Nicolas Sarkozy on his visit to Dublin on Monday suggesting that the June 2009 European Parliament elections would be a good time for another referendum on Lisbon.The EU summit in October will see the next major discussion of the future of the EU treaty, with Irish foreign minister Micheal Martin pledging to give clarity on Ireland's plans in December.

HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER

DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.

JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

Eurozone at risk of first-ever recession
LEIGH PHILLIPS JULY 25,08 Today @ 09:45 CET

The eurozone is facing the threat of the first ever recession in its brief history since 1999, according to the latest business data on the 15-country single currency bloc.A survey issued on Thursday (24 July) of some 5,000 companies showed both manufacturing and services activity declining rapidly in July, after the second quarter from March to June already showed economic contraction. If the July to September period continues on its downward trajectory, the eurozone will meet the technical definition of a recession: two consecutive quarters of shrinking output.The Eurozone Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), produced by market research group Markit dropped to 47.8 points in July down from 49.3 in June, falling lower than economists' predictions.The PMI for services companies dropped to a five-year low of 48.3 from 49.1. In the manufacturing sector, the index was down to 47.5 from 49.2.A figure above 50 in the index indicates growth, while below 50, the sector is going backwards.Employment in the service sector also shrank in July, the first time the number of services jobs has not grown in four years. And Employment in manufacturing dropped to a three-year low.

Manufacturing output is at its lowest rate since the attacks on New York and Washington in September 2001 and new orders are at their lowest level in seven years.A slew of other surveys of the French, German and Italian economies also backed up the PMI data.A key survey of German business sentiment, the Ifo index, showed the business climate in Europe's largest economy at a three-year low.

In France, business confidence fell this month for the sixth month in a row, and slipped to its lowest level since May 2005, according to the INSEE index.In Italy, business sentiment plunged to its lowest levels for almost seven years, according to a survey from market analysts ISAE.For its part, the Spanish government, struggling with a collapse in the housing market, has cut its growth forecast for 2008 to 1.6 percent, down from 2.3 percent.

Economic growth in the eurozone is coming almost to a halt, said Bank of America economist Holger Schmieding, according to AFP.

EU agency gives guarded ok to cloned meat
RENATA GOLDIROVA JULY 25,08 Today @ 09:57 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Meat and milk from cloned animals or their offspring are as safe to eat as products from conventionally bred animals, the European Union's food safety watchdog has said. The body has admitted, however, that the base of evidence - while showing consistent findings - is still limited.On Thursday (24 July), the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) released its final scientific opinion on the impact of animal cloning on food safety, animal health and welfare as well as the environment. The study - triggered by the European Commission's request for advice in February 2007 - has concluded that for cattle and pigs, food safety concerns are considered unlikely. The composition and nutritional values of meat and milk from healthy clones and their offspring are not different from those obtained from conventionally produced animals, Professor Vittorio Silano, the head of EFSA's scientific committee, told the EUobserver. But when asked whether there is any risk linked to eating and drinking cloned food products, he sticked to the term unlikely. Science normally does not give this kind of reply: [a definitive] Yes or No. The reply we can give confidently is that it is unlikely that there might be a problem, Professor Silano said, although recommending additional research in order to increase the data basis for any conclusion. In addition, EFSA has stressed that meat and milk must be derived strictly from healthy animals, while it is important to track back sick animals and remove them from food chain. The study has also raised concerns over health and animal welfare aspects, as a significant proportion of clones have been found to be adversely affected, often severely and with a fatal outcome. But there is no evidence that there is any carry-over to the next generation, Professor Dan Collins, a member of EFSA's scientific committee, told the EUobserver. The European Commission - in charge of making any policy recommendations based on EFSA's study - has responded cautiously to study results. They give rise to increased concerns on aspects of animal health and welfare and left open questions of food safety, it said, according to the Guardian. According to Professor Silano, it is going to take a long time before food from cloned animals' offspring reaches store shelves in Europe. I guess this is the trend in the US, but I am not so sure that this is the trend in Europe, he said, citing many objections concerning animal welfare and skeptic public opinion as two main reasons.

EUROPEAN UNION ARMY

DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADING BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS) that shall arise: and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.( BE HEAD OF 3 NATIONS)
25 And he (EU PRESIDENT) shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.(3 1/2 YRS)

DANIEL 8:23-25
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king (EU DICTATOR) of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences,(FROM THE OCCULT) shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power:(SATANS POWER) and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes;(JESUS) but he shall be broken without hand.

DANIEL 11:36-39
36 And the king (EU DICTATOR) shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS JEWISH) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.(CLAIM TO BE GOD)
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(WAR) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god,(DESTROY TERROR GROUPS) whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.

REVELATION 19:19
19 And I saw the beast,(EU LEADER) and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse,(JESUS) and against his army.(THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)

Obama rallies Europe for war on terror
PHILIPPA RUNNER JULY 25,08 Today @ 09:14 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama urged Europe and a strong EU to stand by the US in a war on extremism in Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa, in a poetic speech delivered to 200,000 people in Berlin's Tiergarten Park on Thursday (24 July) evening. We must defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it. This threat is real and we cannot shrink from our responsibility to combat it, he told the huge crowd. We can...dismantle the networks that have struck in Madrid and Amman, in London and Bali, in Washington and New York.

Speaking at times of a new global security partnership that would involve Russia, Mr Obama focused on a traditional Atlanticist model in which the US and Europe use a mixture of warfare, diplomacy and aid to bring democracy and a market economy to strategic regions.

America has no better partner than Europe, he said, adding we need a strong European Union that deepens the security and prosperity of this continent, while extending a hand abroad, and calling NATO the greatest alliance ever formed to defend our common security.On Afghanistan, the presidential hopeful said the Afghan people need our troops and your troops to defeat the Taliban. More ambiguously on Iraq, he called for European support in order to pass responsibility to the Iraqi government and finally bring this war to a close.Mr Obama urged Europe to send a direct message to Iran that it must abandon its nuclear ambitions and to back pro-democracy movements in Lebanon. He also appealed for help for refugees and dissidents in Somalia, Sudan and Zimbabwe. The poverty and violence in Somalia breeds the terror of tomorrow, said Mr Obama, whose father was Kenyan.

Mea culpa

Walking a tightrope between the sensibilities of US voters and his anti-Iraq war, anti-Guantanamo Bay European audience, he admitted We've made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions.

Mr Obama also apologised for America's past refusal to join international agreements on climate change, saying Let us resolve that all nations - including my own - will act with the same seriousness of purpose as has your nation, and reduce the carbon we send into our atmosphere.In Europe, the view that America is part of what has gone wrong in our world, rather than a force to help make it right, has become all too common. In America, there are voices that deride and deny the importance of Europe's role in our security and our future. Both views miss the truth.

Pop-star status

The event saw Mr Obama greeted like a pop-star in a festival atmosphere, with young people pressed against barriers trying to shake his hand and the crowd roaring its approval when he spoke of nuclear disarmament, common humanity or the improbable hope for a better world. A muted silence descended when he spoke of your troops in Afghanistan.A recent poll showed that between 74 and 82 percent of German, French and British people back the Democrat against Republican candidate John McCain. But US surveys show Mr Obama leads by just one to seven points ahead of the 4 November American elections. He will meet French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris on Friday and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in London on Saturday, having travelled to Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Israel and the Palestinian territories in the past week.

Not president yet

Mr McCain, who ate in a German restaurant in Ohio the same day, criticised his rival for posing as a leader before the November vote. I'd love to give a speech in Germany but I'd much prefer to do it as president of the United States rather than as a candidate, he said.Left-wing commentators in the US were also taken aback by Mr Obama's tone, with New York Times reporter Katherine Q. Seelye writing One unusual thing about this speech: can anyone recall another time when an American who is not president has gone overseas and asked another country for its troops? European reactions also focused on the hawkish nature of the address. He went onto German turf and asked for more troops in Afghanistan...This will probably create some embarrassment, especially among Europe's progressive forces, which already consider Obama a symbol, Rome's Center for Strategic Studies analyst Germano Dottori told AP.

REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM

EU endorses idea of collecting air passenger data
RENATA GOLDIROVA JULY 24,08 Today @ 09:16 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU interior ministers have given their general backing to a Brussels-drafted proposal to collect, store and analyse air passengers' personal data so that security agencies across Europe can identify high-risk travellers. We reached an agreement on the principle of the European PNR, French interior minister Michele Alliot-Marie said after meeting her colleagues on Thursday (24 July), referring to a system for the collection and analysis of passenger name records suggested by the European Commission in November last year as part of its new anti-terrorism strategy. According to the ministerial deal, a number of working groups will be set up in order to look into different aspects of the proposal - including what exact information should be captured and whether the data should come only from foreigners flying to Europe or all passengers.The duration of retention of personal data and how best to protect them also need to be studies by national experts in consultation with the European Parliament as well as transport sector, the French minister said. EU home affairs commissioner Jacques Barrot wants the union's air passenger name recording scheme - similar to the controversial US database on European air travellers - to be up and running by the end of 2009.

The Netherlands and the UK have already been testing their own pilot projects.

DOLLY GOES THROUGH TEXAS

EARTH DESTROYED WITH THE EARTH

GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

EARTHQUAKES

MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

POWERFUL QUAKE HITS JAPAN
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=8951517&ch=4226714&src=news

Powerful earthquake hits Japan, dozens injured By MARI YAMAGUCHI, Associated Press Writer JULY 23,08

TOKYO - A powerful earthquake rattled parts of northern Japanese early Thursday, injuring nearly 100 people, triggering landslides and cutting power to thousands of people, officials said. Japan's Meteorological Agency said the temblor, which had a preliminary magnitude of 6.8, struck shortly after midnight at a depth of about 65 miles near the coast of Iwate, 280 miles northeast of Tokyo.

Japan's Meteorological Agency said there was no danger of a tsunami from the temblor, which had a preliminary magnitude of 6.8. It struck shortly after midnight about 65 miles underground and centered just off the coast of Iwate, 280 miles northeast of Tokyo.

At least 99 people were injured, mainly cuts and bruises from broken glasses and falling objects, said National Police Agency official on condition of anonymity, citing department policy. No one had life threatening injuries.The earthquake caused strong shaking of up to 40 seconds in large parts of northern Japan, official said.Everything has fallen off the shelves, scattered all over the floor, grocery store owner Tomio Kudo told national broadcaster NHK from the town of Hirono, where the shaking was most violent. Even a big refrigerator has moved about 30 centimeters (1 foot).Several nuclear power plants in the region continued operations after inspection by plant workers found no problems, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said in a statement.The quake caused a blackout at more than 8,000 homes, it said.

Japan's bullet super-express trains were suspended in some areas, according to operator East Japan Railway Co.The earthquake also triggered landslides at several locations, the police agency official said. Details were not immediately available.Relief workers and local officials hit the streets to take a closer look to the affected areas in daylight Thursday. A team of government officials headed by Disaster Minister Shinya Izumi also arrived in Iwate.We must grasp the extent of damage as quickly as possible so that we can immediately take necessary steps, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda told reporters.Police said some of the more serious injuries included a woman in Hirono who broke a leg falling down stairs and another woman in Aomori city who broke her hip fleeing out a window.

Japan is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries.A 6.8 magnitude earthquake is capable of causing serious, widespread damage. Last month, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck sparsely populated rural areas in northern Japan, killing at least 12 people, leaving 10 others missing and injuring more than 300.

Meteorological Agency official Takashi Yokota warned of possible aftershocks from Thursday's quake.(This version CORRECTS Corrects that quake struck near coast)

Strong quake jolts northern Japan, no tsunami By Yoko Kubota Wed Jul 23, 1:41 PM ET

TOKYO (Reuters) - A strong earthquake jolted northern Japan early on Thursday, injuring several people, burying three cars under a landslide and cutting off electric power to at least 10,000 homes, media reports and officials said. The Japan Meteorological Agency said there was no threat of a tsunami from the quake, which had a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 and could be felt as far away as Tokyo.

The focus of the quake was 120 km (75 miles) below the surface of the earth in Iwate prefecture, a mountainous, sparsely populated region, the agency said.It was shaking so much that I almost couldn't step out of the kitchen and I panicked quite a bit. A lot of dishes broke, a man in Hachinohe city in Aomori prefecture, about 550 km northeast of Tokyo, told national broadcaster NHK.

Japanese media said military planes were flying over the area to try to assess the extent of damage and that local authorities had requested troops be sent to the area to help. Defence Ministry officials could not immediately be reached for comment.I don't have concrete information, but we've heard that there are several injured, Shinya Izumi, minister in charge of disaster management, told a news conference after the government set up an emergency task force at the prime minister's office.Private broadcaster TV Asahi quoted a spokesman for a hospital in Hachinohe, a city with a population of about 240,000 some 550 km northeast of Tokyo, as saying that 13 people had been brought in with injuries, but gave no details on their condition.Broadcaster TBS said 55 had been injured, while NHK put the figure at 18.There was a fire in one building in the area after the quake, and NHK's fixed cameras showed fire engines driving through the streets towards the scene of the blaze, which it reported was soon put out.Some parts of highways had been closed to traffic and some rail lines were stopped after the quake in the region, which is a mountainous and sparsely populated part of Japan, NHK reported.First it shook a little, then a strong shaking came. It shook for quite a long time, a civil servant in Iwate told NHK.Things didn't fall off the shelves. I saw some houses with shattered glass, he said.Tohoku Electric said its nuclear facilities in the area were operating normally after the quake, except for one unit that was already off-line for maintenance work.Tokyo Electric said its nuclear plants further south had not been affected.Nippon Oil said its 145,000 barrels per day Sendai refinery was operating normally after quake, but Tohoku Electric said it had manually shut down a 250-megawatt oil-fired power plant in aomori after the quake.Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world's most seismically active areas. The country accounts for about 20 percent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.

Thursday's quake follows a string of earthquakes in the same region, the first of which in mid-June killed at least 10 people and left as many again missing.In October 2004, an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 struck the Niigata region in northern Japan, killing 65 people and injuring more than 3,000. That was the deadliest quake since a magnitude 7.3 tremor hit the city of Kobe in 1995, killing more than 6,400.(Reporting by Linda Sieg and Yoko Kubota; Additional reporting by Isabel Reynolds and Osamu Tsukimori; Writing by Chris Gallagher; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

DOLLY MAKES LANDFALL
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OIL BRACES FOR HURRICANE SEASON
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Hurricane Dolly hammers northern Mexico By MARK WALSH, Associated Press Writer JULY 23,08

MATAMOROS, Mexico - Hurricane Dolly toppled trees and sent billboards flying in the Mexican city of Matamoros on Wednesday, and authorities south of the U.S. border warned of possible flooding. No deaths were immediately reported in Mexico from Dolly, which struck land just north of the border in Texas, but Tamaulipas state Gov. Eugenio Hernandez urged residents there to be alert for flooding because of the heavy rains.Dolly didn't leave behind any incidents for us to lament, Hernandez told reporters. But he said 50 neighborhoods in Matamoros are still in danger of flooding. About 13,000 people have taken refuge in 21 shelters.Strong winds are no longer the problem. Now we have to worry about intense rain in the next 24 hours, Hernandez said.Dolly became a Category 2 hurricane as it neared land Wednesday but its winds slowed to 95 mph (150 kph), and the storm was downgraded to a Category 1.Mexican officials were monitoring the Rio Grande's water levels, which were at 13 feet (4 meters) before the storm hit. Eduardo Perez, spokesman for the Tamaulipas state water commission, said the river could reach 30 feet (9 meters) before overflowing.

Authorities asked local factories to close so employees would not brave the rough weather, and most businesses were closed as the storm hit. In the few stores still open, shelves largely emptied by people stocking up on food and water.About 4,800 soldiers and Tamaulipas state civil protection officials patrolled to prevent looting. Electricity was cut to the city of Matamoros to guard against electrocutions from downed power lines.Authorities attempted to evacuate up to 23,000 people, but many refused to leave.As rain and wind beat against his brick home outside Matamoros, 21-year-old Hector Gonzalez said he planned to ride out the storm in the kitchen with his younger brother and parents. Surrounding fields already were under water.The trees are really moving in the wind, he said.Maria Lorenzo Agustin, 49, said she was not taking any chances after losing her home and other belongings in past hurricanes.Last time a hurricane hit, we lost the roof and everything was destroyed inside the house, Agustin said.She and her 102-year-old grandmother fled their wooden shack in the fishing community of Higuerilla and spent the night at a convention center-turned-shelter in Matamoros.Alejandrina Salas, 53, abandoned about 60 chickens at her home in Manos de Leon and arrived at a Matamoros shelter Tuesday night carrying one bird.I love this one a lot, she said.

Dolly weakens to tropical storm over Texas JULY 23,08

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hurricane Dolly has weakened to a tropical storm as it moved inland over Texas after drenching the Texas-Mexico coast with heavy rains, the National Hurricane Center said on Wednesday. In its 11 p.m. EDT advisory, the hurricane center said Dolly's center was located about 55 miles northwest of Brownsville, Texas, and the storm had maximum sustained winds of 70 miles per hour (110 kph).

DOLLY SLAMS S TEXAS BEFORE WEAKENING
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BEAR ATTACK
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Hurricane Dolly pounds Texas, Mexico Wed Jul 23, 7:35 PM ET

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AFP) - Hurricane Dolly pounded the Texas-Mexico border region on Wednesday with rain and powerful winds, flooding part of a Mexican city where 250,000 people were left without drinking water. The storm made landfall in South Padre Island, Texas, as a category two hurricane packing winds of 160 kilometers (100 miles) per hour, the National Hurricane Center said.

But Dolly lost some punch as it interacted with the cooler land mass after leaving the Gulf of Mexico, downgrading to a category one storm with 150 kph (95 mph) winds soon after making landfall.By 2100 GMT, Dolly's winds fell to 140 kilometers (85 miles) per hour, as it moved northwest 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the Texas border town of Brownsville.While still a category one storm, further weakening is forecast during the next 24 hours, the NHC said.As pounding rain and strong winds battered the US-Mexico coast, authorities worried whether levees could sustain the flood waters.Bracing for as many as 15 inches (38 centimeters) of rain, residents boarded up windows and piled up sandbags and thousands fled for safer ground.In Matamoros, 60 kilometers (37 miles) south of South Padre Island, Dolly's winds damaged the city's main water treatment plant, leaving half of the 500,000 inhabitants without drinking water, while heavy rain triggered extensive flooding, local officials said.Texas Governor Rick Perry issued disaster declarations in 14 counties across the southern portion of the state, and hundreds of National Guard troops and other emergency crews were deployed in advance of the storm.White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said federal authorities were helping with hurricane preparations.

We've been identifying resources and pre-positioning supplies in case they are needed after the landfall, she told reporters in Washington.As the storm made landfall, the NHC warned that isolated tornadoes could hit south Texas and there could be widespread flooding across portions of south Texas and northeast Mexico.As Dolly weakened over southern Texas, hurricane warnings were replaced by tropical storm warnings in many areas north and south of the US-Mexico border.The first hurricane of the season in the Gulf of Mexico prompted some oil companies to evacuate personnel from their offshore rigs, but by early Wednesday the storm looked set to bypass the major oil producing areas.However, concerns were raised about the ability of levees to withstand the floodwaters, which could go as high as three feet (one meter) in southern Texas's Cameron County, officials told the local Brownsville Herald.

I ask that any residents that live near the levee in Cameron County to please move away from the river levees near the Rio Grande River. We believe those will be breached if the path continues, said Johnny Cavazos, emergency management coordinator for the county.Authorities called for the evacuation of more than 23,000 people from coastal areas in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, Governor Eugenio Hernandez said.The NHC has forecast an especially active 2008 weather season, saying there could be up to nine hurricanes and 12 tropical storms in the Atlantic region. The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through the end of November. About 35 million people live in the most hurricane-prone US region, the southeastern coastline running from the states of North Carolina to Texas, according to the US Census Bureau.

DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADE BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).

EU threatens obligatory visa for US diplomats
HONOR MAHONY 23.07.2008 @ 18:45 CET

The European Commission has raised the stakes in its tussle with Washington over visas by suggesting that from the beginning of next year US diplomats be required to apply for a visa for t ravel to the European Union.Brussels' move is prompting by frustration at the US government over the slow pace of talks on granting all EU citizens visa-free travel to the United States.No tangible progress has been made regarding the United States despite all efforts of the commission and individual member states, the commission said on Wednesday (23 July).Therefore, the commission will propose retaliatory measures e.g. temporary restoration of the visa requirement for US nationals holding diplomatic and service or official passports as of 1 January, 2009 if no progress is achieved.

At the moment, citizens from 12 of the 27 member states need a visa when travelling to the US – these include most of the ex-Communist countries that joined the bloc since 2004 as well as Greece.The visa issue has bubbled below the surface continually since the EU's major enlargement to the east four years ago.The countries it took on included several very pro-US states – some of whom committed troops to Iraq – and they could not understand why their citizens were not being treated equally to citizens from western states such as Germany, France and the UK.Earlier this year, Washington irritated Brussels by initiating air passenger data deals with individual eastern countries on the understanding that they in return would also become part of the US visa-waiver programme.The Czech Republic reached a deal with Washington in spring, it was later followed by Hungary and Bulgaria.The European Commission was annoyed at what it saw as Washington's divide-and-rule tactics, especially as it believed the bloc's data privacy laws would be undermined as a side effect.Eastern member states have often raised the prospect of reciprocity on the visa issue but this is the first time that the commission has come with a concrete retaliatory suggestion.It is unacceptable that nationals from some third countries can benefit from visa-free travel to the EU whilst some of our fellow EU citizens cannot travel visa-free to those countries, said EU justice commissioner Jacques Barrot.The US visa waiver programme was set up in 1988 and originally focussed on restricting immigration, but the emphasis changed to a security issue after the al-Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington in 2001.

Washington assess countries for inclusion in the programme on the basis of a number of criteria such as the number of visas that have been refused - however the EU would like the bloc to be treated as whole.Travel arrangements between the two blocs is set to continue as a hot topic for the coming months. The US has already announced plans to create an Electronic System of Travel Authorisation for all citizens travelling to the States, including Europeans, from January next year.It maintains it is not a disguised form of visa, but the Europe Commission has yet to establish whether it amounts to a visa policy or not.

Military strike not an option on Iran, EU ministers say
LEIGH PHILLIPS 23.07.2008 @ 09:26 CET

European Union foreign ministers on Tuesday (22 July) called for further diplomacy in dealing with concerns over Iran's nuclear programme and ruled out a military strike as an option.UK foreign secretary David Miliband said following the meeting: We are 100 percent focussed on a diplomatic resolution to the Iranian issue.

The EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, said there was no other route apart from diplomacy.The position of the European Union is clear, said Mr Solana according to the AP. We want to find a diplomatic solution to this, in particular to clarify to the fullest the nature of their nuclear programme.Mr Solana outlined for the ministers the results of a meeting on Saturday between Iran and diplomats from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, China, and Russia, where Tehran was encouraged to halt its uranium enrichment in return for a package of economic and political carrots.With the US for the first time sending a high-ranking diplomat to the meeting, expectations were high that better relations between the two main antagonists would bear fruit. However, Iran maintained that its nuclear programme had only peaceful purposes.American secretary of state Condoleeza Rice described Iran's negotiations following the meeting as not serious.

Mr Solana on Tuesday however said he hoped to have to have clear and simple answers from Tehran within two weeks' time.The six nations and the EU have given Iran a fortnight to reply to the latest offer. If the response is unsatisfactory, further sanctions could be considered.The offer that has been made to Iran on the one hand...and the sanctions on the other, if they refuse to engage and reply, is exactly the right approach, said Mr Miliband following the EU ministers' meeting.

Sarkozy suggests Irish revote in June 2009
LEIGH PHILLIPS 22.07.2008 @ 09:29 CET

French President Nicholas Sarkozy has proposed to the Irish prime minister that a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty be held on the same day as elections to the European Parliament next June.Mr Sarkozy made the suggestion during a private discussion with Prime Minister, or Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, according to reports in the Irish Times, during a six-hour whistle-stop trip to Dublin to meet with government leaders and campaigners from both sides of the treaty battle.At the same time, publicly, the French president denied that he had said Ireland must vote again.I never said that Ireland had to organise a new referendum. I said that at some stage or another the Irish had to be given the opportunity to give their opinion.Last week, he told a private session with deputies from his UMP party in Paris that Ireland would have to hold a second referendum, according to an attendee of the meeting.However, in Dublin the president said he accepted that there could be no resolution to the issue under his country's six-month presidency of the European Union, due to end in December.We don't want to push you into anything, said Mr Sarkozy at a joint press conference with Mr Cowen.The Irish newspaper also reports that Mr Cowen underscored that his government was prepared only to offer a preliminary report to his fellow EU leaders when they meet at October's European Summit, and not a conclusive document detailing a way out of the impasse.The French president's strategy for holding a second poll would be unveiled at the December summit in Brussels, and would involve a guarantee of a commissioner for every member state alongside non-legally-binding declarations - not protocols or opt-outs - targeting perceived Irish concerns around abortion and defence, among other issues.Guarantees on abortion repeatedly figure among the possible responses of European leaders, despite representing the concerns of only two percent of those who voted No, according to the European Commission's own Eurobarometer poll on why people voted the way they did.

Mr Sarkozy also spent two hours meeting with 21 representatives from the various No-side campaign groups, including Libertas, Sinn Fein, the People's Movement and People Before Profit, each of which had three minutes to make their case. A handful of campaigners from the Yes side, including individuals from the Irish employers association, IBEC, were also in attendance.The No campaigners, for their part, felt that the French president was not listening to their concerns.The most worrying thing about this meeting is the fact that clearly the message is not properly being heard, perhaps not even being heard at all. We have said no, said Declan Ganley the millionaire backer of Libertas, whose arguments against the treaty focussed on taxation and regulation as well as democracy issues.That this process should continue, this wish to force through this agenda. There is just something fundamentally wrong and broken with that, he added.Patricia McKenna, of the left-wing People's Movement and a former Green MEP, said after meeting with Mr Sarkozy the whole trip was just a public relations exercise.

He wants to be able to go back to his own people and say I've consulted all sections of Irish society in relation to the Lisbon Treaty, but he is not getting the message, Ms McKenna said.It was very disappointing when he said that it's only extreme situations that you avoid a vote, in other words that Ireland has to vote again.However, the head of Sinn Fein, the only mainstream party to oppose the treaty, found the short discussion he had with the French leader more constructive, saying that at least he met with the No campaigners, unlike the Irish government.I noted to the EU President that the reasons behind the No vote were not as complex as he and others have suggested, he said.The Irish electorate were deeply concerned with issues such as democracy, Ireland's loss of power within the EU, neutrality and militarisation, workers rights and public services. Indeed these same concerns are shared by many across the European Union.As the Mr Sarkozy arrived, he was greeted by a small protest of a few hundred No campaigners waving No Means No placards.

Ukraine gets green light for EU association pact
PHILIPPA RUNNER 22.07.2008 @ 09:29 CET

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has backed French proposals for the EU to sign an association pact with Ukraine in September, amid uncertainty over what the move could mean for Ukraine's EU membership aspirations.This agreement will not only mean a strengthened partnership. It can also qualify as an associate member agreement, the chancellor said after meeting Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko on a brief visit to Kiev on Monday (21 July).Her comment came one day before EU foreign ministers come together in Brussels on Tuesday to rubber-stamp plans for the EU-Ukraine summit in Evian, France on 9 September, where the two sides aim to sign the political chapter of a new bilateral deal.

The title association agreement - recalling the association treaties signed with former eastern bloc countries before the 2004 EU enlargement - would be a diplomatic victory for Kiev, which has pushed for an EU membership perspective since it broke away from the Russian sphere of influence in the 2004 Orange Revolution. The discussions relating to the name of the agreement have ended. It's a colossal step, President Yushchenko said after talking with Ms Merkel.The chancellor's visit itself - the first by a German leader since the Orange uprising - was greeted as a new development in EU-Ukraine relations by some analysts.Her predecessor never found his way to Kiev because he was worried by the grievances from Moscow that such a trip would have provoked. Merkel, though, gives less weight to Russia's concerns, the German Marshall Fund's Joerg Himmelreich told RFE/RL.But despite the warm atmosphere on Monday, Ms Merkel made clear the association pact would not in itself guarantee that Ukraine will one day start EU entry talks. It would mean that progress [in EU-Ukraine relations] has been achieved but there would be no automatic mechanism concerning [EU] membership, she explained. This question is not on the agenda.French diplomats, who first floated the association agreement proposal last December, have in the past pointed out that while the EU and Ukraine are coming closer together, the word association in itself does not relate to enlargement, as the EU also has association deals with states such as Chile and Egypt.

Polish media reports that discussion on the precise wording of the EU-Ukraine treaty preamble is ongoing at the diplomatic level, with the EU negotiating mandate allowing a clause along the lines that the EU recognises Ukraine's EU membership aspirations. Ukrainian diplomats are still struggling to have pro-enlargement wording included in the text before the Evian meeting, Polish daily Rzeczpospolita reports, while Spain leads an EU camp which wants the preamble to explicitly say the new treaty does not relate to accession.

OBAMA SAYS HES COMMITTED TO ISRAELS SECURITY
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Obama pays visit to Jerusalem holy site By DAVE ESPO, AP Special Correspondent JULY 23,08

JERUSALEM - Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama paid a predawn visit to the holiest place in Judaism on Thursday, bowing his head in prayer at the Western Wall. Obama placed a small note inside a crevice in the ancient wall, a custom observed by many. He made his brief stop as he completed a trip to the Middle East in which he met with Israeli and Palestinian leaders as well as Jordan's King Abdullah.

OBAMA JERUSALEM WILL BE ISRAELS CAPITAL
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Obama tells Israel he's committed to its security By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent JULY 23,08

SDEROT, Israel - From the solemnity of a Holocaust museum to a dusty village battered by Hamas rockets, Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama on Wednesday professed an unshakable commitment to the security of Israel, whether the threat comes from terrorists, Iran or elsewhere. The way you know where somebody's going is where have they been. And I've been with Israel for many, many years now, he said on a day that bore striking similarities to campaigning in the United States.In his public remarks, Obama sidestepped a question of whether he would condone an Israeli attack to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. But he said he was confident that in several private meetings he had not left Israeli politicians with the impression that, if elected president, he would be pressuring them to accept any kinds of concessions that would put their security at stake.Obama packed more than a half-dozen meetings, a stop at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, a helicopter tour of the country and a visit to a house hit by Hamas rockets into his only full day in Israel during his trip to the Middle East and Europe.He also rode past an Israeli checkpoint into Ramallah on the West Bank, where he assured Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of his support for a two-state resolution of the region's long animosities. Later, entering a session with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Obama said his talks with Abbas indicated there's a strong sense of progress being made toward peace. Olmert nodded and said, Indeed.Before dawn Thursday in Jerusalem, paid a predawn visit to the holiest place in Judaism, bowing his head in prayer at the Western Wall and pushing a small note into a crevice in the ancient wall, a custom that is observed by many.

Obama's major focus was clearly reassuring Israelis — and by extension millions of Jewish voters in the United States — of his commitment to the survival of the Jewish state. He leads his Republican rival, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, among Jewish voters, but his support falls short of what Democrat John Kerry drew four years ago.Obama said Israelis could be certain of his commitment to Israel's security by looking at my deeds.Just this past week, we passed out of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, which is my committee, a bill to call for divestment from Iran, as a way of ratcheting up the pressure to ensure that they don't obtain a nuclear weapon, he said.However, Obama does not serve on the banking committee, and McCain's campaign seized on the mistake.Not only is it not his committee, but he's not even on the committee, he didn't vote on the bill, and he had nothing to do with its passage, McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said in a statement issued Wednesday.Obama's trip is financed by his presidential campaign, and he flew to Israel from Jordan on Tuesday night about his chartered Boeing 757 emblazoned with his trademark slogan, Change We Can Believe In.If his campaign aides were looking for memorable images during the day, they got them, from Obama donning a skullcap at the Holocaust memorial, to President Shimon Peres saying, God Bless You outside his official residence, to a stop at a house under reconstruction in Sderot where he saw firsthand the destruction caused by Hamas rockets.People are committed, he said, making a fist and thumping his chest three times.Shielded by intense U.S. and Israeli security, he then traveled a short distance to the local police station. There, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and local officials showed him racks filled with debris from Hamas rockets that have landed in Sderot in the past seven years. In 2005 Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip a mile away.The same racks formed a made-for-television backdrop for a news conference attended not only by U.S. reporters, but also Israelis whose satellite trucks jammed the parking lot across the street.Eli Moyal, the local mayor, gave Obama a souvenir T-shirt — merely the latest he has received since he began running for president — and the senator also came away with a gift of a piece of rocket as artwork, attached to a wooden plaque.Gaza Hamas official Fawzi Barhoum had a less-favorable response to Obama's visit to Sderot: Hamas considers the remarks of the Democratic candidate today to be part of the American policy of bias towards Israel and giving legitimacy to Israeli crimes against our people. His remarks today give cover for the occupation's nonstop crimes against our people.The subject of Tehran's presumed drive to gain a nuclear weapon — and the threat that would pose to Israel — was a recurrent theme throughout the day. The American presidential candidate said, Iranians need to understand that whether it's the Bush administration or an Obama administration, that this is a paramount concern to the United States.He said he favors both big sticks and carrots to persuade Iranians to switch course. What I have also said, though, is that I will take no options off the table in dealing with this potential Iranian threat. And understand part of my reasoning here. A nuclear Iran would be a game-changing situation, not just in the Middle East but around the world. Whatever remains of our nuclear nonproliferation framework, I think, would begin to disintegrate. You would have countries in the Middle East who would see the potential need to also obtain nuclear weapons.

At his news conference, Obama brushed aside a question of whether he had backed off his statement this spring that Jerusalem should be the undivided capital of Israel. Palestinians also lay claim to the city as the capital for any state they establish as the result of peace talks, and the two sides have agreed that the final decision is to be negotiated. Criticized by Abbas after he made that comment, Obama subsequently amended it. Well, obviously, it's going to be up to the parties to negotiate a range of these issues. And Jerusalem will be part of those negotiations, he said. He added that as a practical matter, it would be very difficult to execute a division of the city. Abbas issued a statement saying he and Obama had not discussed the issue in their hour together. Asked by an Israeli reporter about the matter, Obama said, I continued to say that Jerusalem will be the capital of Israel. And I have said that before and I will say it again. And I also have said that it is important that we don't simply slice the city in half. But I've also said that that's a final status issue.Obama departs on Thursday for Germany, where he is scheduled to deliver an outdoor speech before a large crowd. He also has stops planned for France and England before flying back to the United States on Saturday.
Associated Press writers Matti Friedman, Laurie Copans and Ian Deitch contributed to this story.

Stocks advance following sharp drop in oil prices By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer Wed Jul 23, 6:08 PM ET

NEW YORK - Stocks advanced for the second straight session Wednesday as another decline in oil prices and several upbeat profit reports eased some of Wall Street's concerns about the economy. Investors expect that a sustained pullback in oil prices would give a crucial boost to the economy. Crude has retreated as oil investors have worried that high prices and a sluggish economy are reducing demand. The government reported Wednesday that domestic inventories increased last week as consumers curbed their energy use.Oil is down more than $20 a barrel since hitting a record above $147 just weeks ago. A barrel of light, sweet crude fell $3.98 to settle at $124.44 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.While oil at times tugged at stocks, as it has for months, investors also examined a raft of earnings reports Wednesday that indicated not all corporate profits were suffering because of the slower economy. That left some investors more upbeat about the prospects for the overall economy. AT&T Inc., McDonald's Corp. and Pfizer Inc., all among the 30 stocks that make up the Dow Jones industrial average, weighed in with reports that generally pleased investors.

Oil is a positive but I think bigger than that is the earnings news is not as catastrophic as people were thinking, said Noman Ali, portfolio manager of U.S. equities for MFC Global Investment Management in Toronto. Some of the bellwethers are reporting earnings that are better-than-expected. And outside of the financials, things aren't so bad.The Dow rose 29.88, or 0.26 percent, to 11,632.38 after rising nearly 100 points early in the session. On Tuesday, the blue chips gained 135 points.Broader stock indicators also advanced Wednesday. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 5.19, or 0.41 percent, to 1,282.19 and the technology-laden Nasdaq composite index rose 21.92, or 0.95 percent, to 2,325.88.

Nasdaq's gains came ahead of a report from Amazon.com Inc., which said after the closing bell that its second-quarter profit more than doubled to top Wall Street's expectations.Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 5 to 3 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 6.56 billion shares, compared with 6.04 billion shares traded Tuesday.Bond prices slipped as some investors moved from the safety of government debt to stocks. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 4.12 percent from 4.10 percent from late Tuesday.The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices fell.Some strength in the dollar helped push oil lower. The drop in oil helped a range of sectors like airlines. Delta Air Lines Inc. rose 89 cents, or 12 percent, to $8.60, while Continental Airlines Inc. jumped $1.54, or 12 percent, to $14.80.Energy companies lost ground as oil fell. Exxon Mobil Corp. fell $1.87, or 2.3 percent, to $80.99 and Chevron Corp. slid $2.98, or 3.5 percent, to $82.65.Investors appeared unfazed by the Federal Reserve's Beige Book, which provides readings on the U.S. economy by region and indicated that business conditions have slowed in recent months as consumer spending has turned sluggish. The report arrives two weeks before policymakers' next meeting but seemed to hold few surprises for investors.Wall Street instead appeared more focused on oil and corporate news.AT&T rose $1.24, or 3.9 percent, to $33.06 after the company said quarterly profits rose amid a big spike in wireless subscribers that offset its shrinking landline business.Pfizer, the world's biggest drug maker, said its second-quarter earnings more than doubled as restructuring charges declined and the weak dollar helped lift overseas revenue. The stock rose 72 cents, or 3.9 percent, to $19.07.McDonald's credited strong overseas sales with driving the company's second-quarter profit. The stock fell 46 cents to $59.66.

Boeing Co. fell $2.54, or 3.7 percent, to $66.72 after reporting second-quarter earnings fell 19 percent due to a $248 million charge related to a defense program. The world's second-largest commercial airplane maker had already warned it would book the expense. Washington Mutual Inc. fell $1.17, or 20 percent, to $4.65 after the nation's largest thrift reported a $3 billion loss due to increases in its loss reserves to cover souring loans in its mortgage portfolio. Costco Wholesale Corp. warned that its fiscal fourth-quarter and full-year profits will fall short of Wall Street's expectations. The warehouse club operator expects higher energy costs to hurt its results. The stock fell $8.57, or 12 percent, to $63.43. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac advanced ahead of an ultimately successful House vote Wednesday on legislation to tap the mortgage giants' profits to cover any losses from saving 400,000 homeowners from foreclosure. The measure, which won easy approval in a vote after the closing bell on Wall Street, would give the Treasury Department authority to extend the companies a temporary lifeline. Fannie Mae rose $1.59, or 12 percent, to $15, while Freddie Mac rose $1.10, or 11 percent, to $10.80. Hours before the vote, President Bush dropped his opposition to the measure, which appears likely to pass the Senate and become law within days. Bill Stone, chief investment strategist for PNC Wealth Management, said some investors had been overly concerned about some financials and that some companies' quarterly reports had quelled some fears.

They were pricing some of these companies seemingly for the end. And when you don't get the worst possible outcome you get at least a jump out of them, he said. MFC's Ali said that while the government's action to help Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has reassured investors he remains cautious. Some of the biggest rallies happen in bear markets. The outlook for the market is still pretty negative, he said, pointing to a general decline in earnings, a slowdown in international growth, rising prices and a weak dollar. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 2.37, or 0.33 percent, to 719.19. Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 0.97 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 added 1.60 percent, Germany's DAX index rose 1.45 percent, and France's CAC-40 jumped 1.88 percent. On the Net: New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com
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Unknown disease killing off Florida's state tree By SARAH LARIMER, Associated Press Writer Wed Jul 23, 5:50 PM ET

MIAMI - The sabal palm, Florida's state tree, is under attack by a microscopic killer that has scientists stumped. An unknown but growing number of sabal palms in the Tampa Bay area have died from a mysterious disease that researchers are struggling to identify. Even after scientists pinpoint the disease — and that could take years — they will have to learn what insect spreads it. The disease will be tough to stop. It's not simply a matter that we will be able to eradicate, said Monica Elliott, a University of Florida plant pathologist. That's not very likely.Sabal palms, also known cabbage palms, can grow to 50 feet. In the United States, they can be found from the Florida Keys to parts of North Carolina and can grow in marshes, woodlands or along the coastline. The palm, which is also South Carolina's state tree, is featured in Florida's state seal and was designated the state tree in the 1950s.Tim Schubert, an administrator and pathologist in Florida's Division of Plant Industry, said it's impossible to say what the disease's eventual effect on the state's sabal palms will be, but it's not going to be good.There's going to be fewer palms, he said. They may present a less attractive tree in nature because of this new disease showing up.Schubert said he knew of no cases of the disease in sabal palms outside Florida.This is not the first time iconic Florida trees have been ravaged by disease. The state's orange and other citrus trees are being attacked by canker and greening. Scientists have been unable to stop either.

The new disease destroys the sabal palm and its other victims, which include Canary Island date palms and queen palms, from within. It's a tough diagnosis, Elliott said, often confused with nutrient deficiencies or excessive trimming. First to go are the lower leaves in the tree's canopy, followed by a dead spear leaf. Finally, the palm's canopy collapses.Understanding how the disease spreads requires a trip back to high school science class.This is a phytoplasma disease, which means it is a very small bacterium that doesn't have a cell wall. And it can only be transmitted through a plant's phloem, a type of transport tissue similar to veins in a human. The disease has likely found its way to sabal palms' phloem by either a tree- or leaf-hopping insect.The disease is hitting the state during a tight budget year and University of Florida research funding has taken a hit. Officials can still turn to federal and private grants, and a proposal to dip into a small emergency fund is being considered, said Jack Battenfield, a spokesman for UF's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.We don't have some of the freedoms we might have had before, Battenfield said. The budget's tighter. We've got to look at things we can do most effectively, most efficiently, and have the biggest impact.On the Net:UF Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center: http://flrec.ifas.ufl.edu/